In the Tall Grass (2019)

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writer(s): Natali, from a short story by Stephen King and Joe Hill
Starring: Laysla De Oliveiri, Avery Whitted, Patrick Wilson and Will Buie Jr.

Usually, the movies my wife and I watch are carefully and meticulously chosen, sometimes too much so. We’ll spend several minutes switching between several different streaming services, until we finally find something that tickles our fancy. In a best case scenario, we will choose 3-5 movies and have the other person narrow it down to one. In almost all cases, the process takes way longer than it should. 

In the Tall Grass, however, was different in that it's one of the few movies that we just blindly picked. We knew nothing about it going in, but all it took was one view of the trailer to suck us in.  It's a horror tale written by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill that takes place in the titular setting: A seemingly neverending field of tall grass. 

The plot finds Becky, a pregnant woman who's traveling to San Diego with her nerdy brother, Cal. It is unclear at first why they're traveling such great distance, but becomes one of many revelations throughout the film. They are traveling through the fields of Kansas when Becky starts to feel sick. Naturally, Cal starts the car to give her time to recover. As they’re getting ready to continue their trek, they hear a voice calling out for help from inside the tall weeds. 

It sounds like a young boy who is trapped in there and begging for help. Cal seems slightly unfazed - “annoyed” might be a more appropriate term -  and wants to continue on but Becky decides that they should stay and help. She is pregnant, after all, so presumably the thought of abandoning a child is too much for her. In an effort to find the lost child, they enter the grass.

In case you weren't already clued in, the grass isn't all that it appears to be. It's an almost shape-shifting world that seems to decide the fates of those inside it. If it wants you to find someone, you will find them. If it wants you to get separated from someone, you'll get separated. It’s like it controls the motions and actions of everyone trapped inside. It sounds kind of stupid, but it's pulled off fairly well, for the most part.

It doesn’t take long for things to go awry: Becky and Cal are separated almost immediately, and are unable to find each other. He stumbles onto Tobin, the boy whose cries for help are the ones that lured them out in the first place; he’s a creepy-looking, ominous child who seems to be hiding more than he’s letting on. Meanwhile, Becky stumbles onto Ross, Tobin’s father, who has also been separated from Natalie, his wife. He promises Becky to help her find a way out.

Since this is based on a story co-written by Stephen King, we know things can’t just be this straightforward. As if the setting wasn’t strong enough, we’re introduced to a magical fucking rock that has some sort of weird powers. Alright, whatever. I’m a big fan of ambiguity, which the film already had in spades, so to place some of the outcome of the story on a magical rock just kind of ruined some of the momentum for me. Sure, it’s mysterious, as well, but come on…it’s a magical fucking rock. 

Aside from the setting, the best feature of In the Tall Grass is the way it plays with time: We already know things aren’t what they seem inside the grass, but the scope of it slowly becomes evident. I’ll admit the “twist”, where we start to understand what’s going on, is appropriately trippy and also adds to the cryptic feel. Eventually, it breaks down into a hallucinatory nightmare that reminded me a lot of the excellent horror film The Dark and the Wicked. The line between fantasy and reality blurs, leaving not only the characters confused as to what’s going on, but the viewers as well. 

I’ve not read the short story by King and Hill, but turning any novel into a film is hard work; stretching a short story into a feature length film might be even harder. Personally, I felt like there’s too much going on, especially when the setting itself is strong enough to stand out on its own. It’s like the chef who ruins a perfect dish by adding too many spices. The villain is rather ho-hum and, admittedly, doesn’t really feel necessary to the story; after all, it’s more or less the grass who’s the main antagonist. And by the time the magical rock was introduced, I'll admit I partially lost interest in the story.

It doesn't always entirely work, and it leads up to a predictable and slightly corny finish, but overall, In the Tall Grass makes just enough use of its setting to deliver a creepy enough atmosphere that limps across the finish line. It won't top any lists of noteworthy horror films - not even for the year it was made - but it’s not one that should top your list of regrets.

RATING: 5.5/10

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